


All Some Children Do Is Work.

by Lanna Michaels (lannamichaels)



Category: The Parent Trap (1961), The Parent Trap (1998)
Genre: Ficlet, Trope Bingo Round 14
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:08:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22656775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lannamichaels/pseuds/Lanna%20Michaels
Summary: Susan and Sharon, Annie and Hallie, finding family.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 22
Collections: Trope Bingo: Round Fourteen





	All Some Children Do Is Work.

**Author's Note:**

> Anyway, [I rewatched](https://lannamichaels.dreamwidth.org/1098628.html) [the Parent Traps](https://lannamichaels.dreamwidth.org/1098856.html). And since I would never finish a vid to Children's Work by Dessa, which these movies so richly deserve, here, have a ficlet instead. For the "meet the parents/family" square of my Trope Bingo card.

1.

 _The nerve of her, coming here with your face_.

The nerve of any of them, coming here with their past.

2.

Susan goes to Boston. Hallie goes to London. Sharon and Annie ghost through each other on the flight to California. The twins with their teen idols discover their grandfather, smell tobacco, end phone calls urging them to go back to California. It's urgent, he's getting married, she's horrible, come quick.

No, I won't. I won't give up my mother.

In California, a ranch and a vineyard. A housekeeper who suspects a switch. A father who does not.

Riding on horseback through beautiful scenery: why couldn't I have always had this?

I just met my father. I already know my mother. Why is he rushing into marriage? Can't it wait? Can't he see this is important?

Can't he see I'm me?

3.

A date re-created. Can't you remember when you loved each other?

A camping trip. A relationship sabotaged. Is there a happily-ever-after to be had here? We flew across countries. We learned a new accent. We learned to bite our nails. We learned brand new lives.

Can't we have this?

Parents so impulsive, so reckless, so much loved and yet unknown. A life knowing your vanished parent had chosen to have nothing to do with you, a horrified moment in a cabin to discover your known parent had made the same decision for your twin. Interchangeable children, having only one is good enough, having two isn't enough to fight for, isn't someone worth knowing.

Parents who looked at a daughter every day for 11 years, for 13 years, saw blonde hair, saw freckles, and knew somewhere, there was another girl who looked the same. Another girl they didn't know. Another girl they would recognize in an instant. Another girl, another life. Another girl they threw away: they hated their ex so much, you understand. They never wanted to see them again. A child thrown out in exchange.

Every day, one twin. Every day, knowing the lack.

Every day, one twin.

Today, two twins. 

But for how long?

4.

The dog learns to like Sharon. The dog learns to like Annie.

The parents already loved them both, of course. Of course.

But did you? You didn't notice I was different.

I can't leave London, I have a career. -- You expect me to leave the vineyard? -- I have work in Boston, you never respected what I do because it doesn't come with a paycheck -- I live here, but you can live anywhere! -- Can't you see I'm trying?

Never forget they hated each other.

You're told love is the other side of hate, hate the other side of love. Watch the coin spin, where will it land today? Where will we all land, in the morning?

Where am I going to school?

Maybe a boarding school isn't a bad idea. Maybe one in the middle. Maybe they can meet in the middle.

But didn't we try that?

No, not yet. We'd wanted more than that.

5.

Sharon goes to Boston. Annie goes to London. Susan and Hallie go to California. Just for a little while. A fortune in long distance phone bills, in airfare. We'll see each other at Christmas, at Easter. Don't you want to go home? All your friends are there.

My twin isn't.

Sharon goes to Boston. Susan goes to Boston. Annie goes to California. Hallie decorates a room.

Switch.

California on school breaks. London in the summer. Sitting on the floor of a studio, helping to hem a wedding gown. Susan learns piano. Sharon learns guitar. Hallie stops biting her nails. Annie starts. They switch necklaces every day. 

If they split us up, they won't know which twin they have. We won't tell them. An endless trap for the parents; no more his-and-hers daughters. They're the ones who decided we were interchangeable. They're the ones who decided my sister isn't enough to fight for. They're the ones who only love one of us, really, only one of us enough to keep.

Let's get together, yeah yeah yeah.

Why don't you and I combine?

In a choice between being with a mother or with a twin, they choose the twin. In a choice between being with a father or with a twin, they choose the twin. They choose the boarding school.

They're not the ones who made it a choice.

Do you love me enough to give me up sometimes so I can be with my twin always? Do you love me enough to care about what I want?

Do you even love me?

You didn't notice I wasn't me.

**Author's Note:**

> [this post on dreamwidth](https://lannamichaels.dreamwidth.org/1099115.html); [this post on tumblr](https://lannamichaels.tumblr.com/post/190762175985/all-some-children-do-is-work-766-words-by-lanna)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [let’s stay together (or not)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23801587) by [sora_grey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sora_grey/pseuds/sora_grey)




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